Excessive Yawning and Constant Need to Breathe Deep

Hi I can relate to this but any other help please get in touch. For 9 years now I'm a shadow of my former self I was a fit and active playing 4 90 minute games of football a week in 2008 my nan passed away an doctors tell me this is a trigger of anxiety but don't feel anxious. I have had 3 ecg tests asthma test blood tests and sum test with gel on my heart and somethings grubbed over it on a machine to see results. I've had hynotherapy and spent hundreds on DVDs and books. But my case is I cannot breathe or seem to breath properly I am constantly feeling short of breath so I am gasping and yawning o get a breath and can last up to 20 seconds so that time no oxygen is getting to my brain so it sends me dizzy and it's just one big cycle I cannot stop thinking about breathing at all al day. Even chillin siting on sofa I'm breathless and yawning to get a breath. I don't dare to do any excersise and worry something will happen to me. I'm just fed up of fearing every day I am going to die and just want to breath normal without having to yawn. To causes me to have a bloate feeling as swallowing so much air each day when yawning so much and causes muscle spasms. Any help please. Or idea what it is. I've seen chronic hyperventilation syndrome.

Hi, I'll tell you the short and then the long of my experience (that way people don't have to read a big long story if it doesn't relate to them).  And I plan to copy and paste this to many forums if you see it someplace else (forums in regards to sleepiness, brain fog, spacey feelings, not being able to take a full breath etc). I promised myself I would post it to forums if I ever found something that helped me.

The short answer is, on a whim, I cut out gluten and it saved my quality of life. I cut it out for none-of-the-above reasons. I'm not a "hippy" whole foods eater...whatever you want to call it, and  I'm not an alternative medicine person (although I'm starting to believe that you do need to think outside the box now at times).  I just randomly wondered if it would help me for a whole other reason. I didn't research it alot or put much planning into it, I just decdied to give it a try.  I am now a different person.  It took about 4 days for me to feel exremely noticably better. It took a week or two to feel my fogginess and sleepiness go away!!!!...  after years and years of wondering what it is that is causing it....sleeping too much?, sleeping not enough? etc. I even had a neurological sleep study early into this problem which showed "excessive daytime sleepiness" but they didn't know why. And taking away gluten did it!!!!!, which is not even the reason why I cut it out!!!  Within a few days, I also noticed my shortness of breath went away.  I had that problem as well, where I couldn't get a full breath in often.  That dissapeared as well.

I never got tested for celiac disease or anything like that, and I don't care to, because I know I can't it gluten!!!  I never have cheat days because it's not worth it to me... but one time I accidentally ate it and I felt like I had to sleep and sleep and sleep.  I couldn't sleep it off because I have young children, but it was a struggle to stay awake. 

Finally, it took a few months, but spacey feelings, more fog, balance problems, feeling off, .... it wall lifted. 

I can relate to what you wrote.  I'm in my late 30s but I remember this starting in my early 20s.  I swore up and down that I was more tired than other people.  People brushed it off as "everyone is tired...I'm tired too" but I had a nagging pulling need to sleep. I had to think of ways to get a quick ten minutes in and it consumed me.  I slept on lunch breaks too. 

Then in my mid-30s I had an episode of some sort that I am still not sure of.... ultimately they called it possible vertigo.  I  felt spacey, couldn't remember things, extra anxiety (which I do suffer from), off balance, tired of course, and more.  It was a scary time for me. I wasn't sure what was happening.  I had an MRI done, I saw an ENT, a neurologist, thyroid tested (which I would recomment you ask your Dr about)....everything came back "normal."  I spent time and money, crying in doctor offices begging for someone to think of something.

It wasn't until I cut out gluten, years later, that this got some relief. I white-knuckled a few years, trying to get through the day with the brain fog, and tiredness and balance issues.

I don't know if you need to talk to a Dr (people with symptoms that I had should certainly ask their doctor in case they want to do MRIs and thyroid testing, inner ear, TMJ can cause things etc. That's important.  But on many forums people said their tests always came back normal but they don't feel right.  I'm still not perfect, because I think I have leftover anxiety after going through this for years.  side note: I also got glasses which helped all this too.  Needing glasses and having astigmatism can make you tired and off balance as well.  So, getting glasses has helped me too!

I'm not a Dr or nutritionist or gluten expert, but it has helped me more than I can say, to cut it out. Night and day, two different worlds.   I even asked a doctor along my journey, "should I consider food sensitivites?" and she said "no, I wouldn't go down that route yet" and I wish I hadn't listened.

I now know that what you eat gets processed in the gut which in turn affects the brain more that I ever really gave it credit for totally.  I don't think people should cut out gluten if they don't need to. I know it's considered a trend and a fad but I truly can not eat it.

I know it sounds really hard for people to cut it out but I have to say, I went into it really non-chalently and it wasn't that bad (I know people get angry when they read that comment because it's not "easy" to many people, but I just mean, it wasn't as overwhelming as I thought it would be for me).  I just went into that first day thinking I'll just pick out what I'd normally eat out of the kitchen, and if it said "wheat" I'd choose something else. I didn't read  about it and stock up with gluten free products. I just went product by product.  You can still eat lots of healthy and unhealthy foods that don't have gluten. 

I don't know if this is your answer. I hope it helps you or someone somehow. Like I said I told myself I would post to forums if I ever felt better, because it's a difficult confusing lonely journey to try and figure it all out.  Good luck!

I suffered from this for ten years.  I went to several pulminary doctors.  I had test after test which all came back normal. 

I tried to stop eating gluten for an entirely different reason.  Within days, that air hunger feeling had lifted for the first time in ten years.  It also took my pulling desire for sleep, away.

I'm changed forever.

I hope this helps.  Gluten free sounds overwhelming.  But I started slow.  I didn't overly prepare. I went into it nonchalently.  I started by thinking of eating my normal foods but if it had wheat, I didn't eat it.  Simple as that.  I didn't look into the future of whatever if I never eat this or that again, and I didn't stock up on gf foods. I just went to eat what I normally did and if it had wheat, I chose something else. 

I could breathe in about 3 days.

You could try it, keep it low stress, give it a try.  If within a week or two (people say you should try it for a least a month) but I say give it a week or two, and see if it helps.  If it doesn't help, go back to eating gluten. If it does, you won't want to eat gluten.

So glad I found this thread! I've been dealing with these issues for years now. I was born with only 85% lung capacity so I always thought it was due to that, and my smoking behaviour. I never got diagnosed with asthma, but a few years after I started smoking regularly these symptoms have been coming and going regularly... I also have some sleeping issues and I've noticed that when I've had a bad night the issues seem worse. Here are some thing that seem to trigger or worsen the symptoms:

-bad night sleep (less than 7 or 6 hours)

-pressure on your back (as in laying down, or sitting in a couch)

-the belt of your pants that's too tight, or any other clothes that feel too tight for that matter

-high temperaturen/warm air

-smoking, naturally

And here are some things that seem to alleviate the symptoms:

-fresh air (open a window, breathe in the fresh air)

-remaining in a dust free environment (avoid Pneumoconiosis)

-walking around (instead of sitting/standing still)

-ventolin (might be placebo though)

-a quick nap (also helps to get your focus off the discomfort, but only works if you're so exhausted that it wins from your breathing discomfort)

-getting drunk (I do not condone this, but I have to say in all honesty that, when going to bed after a night out, even when I'm experiencing the discomfort, I can get to sleep without any problems. But in that condition the room's spinning and I'm in a state of just not caring about it anymore. Hence why anti anxiety meds probably have an alleviating effect as well)

-'hit the ground running': take a couple of quick shallow breaths in rapid succession as a take-off for a deep breath (not flawless, but one of my most used techniques)

-leaning forward whilst simultanuously taking the deep breath

-applying force to something with both hands whilst simultanuously taking the deep breath (I've had this happen when holding a game controller; or when having both hands in the pockets of my trousers and 'lifting up' my upper body whilst breathing in, or when leaning on a table, etc)

PS: don't always trust a doctor's judgement. One doctor claimed my symptoms were because of TOO MUCH oxygen in my blood (and continued to argue it was hyperventilation causing it. Casually mistaking effect for cause...)

For me these episodes become so severe that I sometimes consider making a trip to the ER.

When I have these episodes there is no congestion, wheezing, or audible sounds present. No coughing or desire to cough. Not initially but later on I will also begin to start experiencing a discomfort located in the center right underneath the sternum, kind of like a hand pressing down on the sternum. It also may described as a heavy feeling in my lungs like my lungs are heavy. I have however concluded since those symptoms don’t occur initially with the breathing issues that they most likely simply the result of the increased stress that I’m putting on my lungs while trying to inhale.

I think I can safely eliminate any serious diseases or terminal conditions due to the fact that this problem occurs in episodes. I first had this problem about 15 years ago where I was having these episodes and it probably lasted for about 6 months and then went away completely. The problem just started occurring again about 4 months ago and is still present. I guess what I’m saying is that it would make no sense for it to occur then go away for 15 years if it was due to a disease.

I can also probably eliminate panic attacks/anxiety because I have tried more than once to take valiums and Xanax while symptoms where present to which the meds had absolutely no improvement. I just finished a 10 day course of prednisone. Yes I know it’s a horrible medicine and I’m glad to be done with it but I can tell it also presented no noticeable improvement.

The doctor made me do stress echo test thinking the issue may have been heart related but the test results come back completely normal.

From all the research I have done I’m starting to think maybe its allergy related. You know how the symptoms for a person who allergic to bees get stung? Perhaps this is a milder version of that, like non-lethal but still intense respiratory problems occurring as a result of an unknown allergen exposure. Could also explain why it’s comes in episodes, or not present all the time.

So there you go. I still don’t have a clue what causes this but really sucks bad.

I had this problem over a year. It was awful bless you. I went to lung doctor heart doctor no relief. Couldn't get deep breath or a good yawn. It is gerd trust me try 2 table spoons of pepto bismol I prayed over bottle before I drank it and it has been a true miracle. The acids are creeping up into your lungs and esophagus affecting your air ways so you can't get good breath and you can't yawn. Please at leat try this it has helped me so much and I hope it helps you